Sundry particles

Abstract

Particles belong to the class of so-called function words; in contrast to content words such as green or house, which immediately evoke some image, the meaning of a particle becomes clear only as soon as it is put in the right place in a sentence. There are quite a few in Turkish. Conjunctions are the particles used for the coordination of nouns, and these are treated here, together with the question particle. This particle is not only applied to form choice questions, but it forms yes/no questions as well. The negational particle değil is used to contrast two or more nouns and combined with the question particle it is also the core of tag questions. In the third section so-called clitics are discussed, by means of which emphatic statements and rhetorical questions are formulated. Also, some clause linkers and devices for topicalization are discussed.